


Crossroads

by pazpas



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Bottom Steve, Character Development, M/M, Mage steve, Magic, Mention of a Side Story, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Witcher Billy, Witcher Tommy, mention of other characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:29:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27127222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pazpas/pseuds/pazpas
Summary: "Don't you dare read my mind, you fucking asshole!""Well, there's really nothing one could read to begin with."
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 7
Kudos: 53





	Crossroads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beatrix_Bilqis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beatrix_Bilqis/gifts).



> Beatrix_Bilqis is my husband who translated all of this. My dear, you know how much I love you for all you’ve done for me. All kudos to you!
> 
> (She’s actually the good writer of the couple...so check her out if you want!)

The scorching hot made the armor a painful torture to bear, and the overall heat of that forsaken small patch of forest made him more jittery than usual.

And the little pest on the saddle really didn't increase the overall mood with that stupid squeaky voice of hers. Fuck. In his mind, he'd swear at Wendy until the annoying tick finally made her way back home. 

Or died.

"Cut it out, you're creeping me out!" she squealed in his ears like the grating coos of a nagging crow. The blonde rolled his eyes upwards.

"I was picturing you drowned in a pool of your own blood". He firmly jerked the horse's reins with a devilish smile painted on his face. 

The petulant child stared at him wide-eyed, trying her best not to fall off the horse and also understand if what he'd just said held any truth. "Maybe I'll use you as a bait for my next contract."

"You can't do that!" Billy grined his teeth at the umpteenth screech coming out of her mouth. "You can't do that! Wendy made you promis- "

He just stopped listening to her, or at least did his best to try and shut any external sound off. He was stuck there. The red haired shrimp had secretly followed him; once he found out someone was on his ass (though he'd never admit that the sneaky little brat was good for her age), he had almost risked his neck getting her out of a wraith's sharp nails.

Ah, yes. That had been fun. Especially when he was on the verge of dying, and now sweaty beads made his skin burn like hell under the bandages on his chest.

He had managed to find the specter's corpse, burn it and, to his own surprise, avoid giving the snotty little burden the same treatment; then he had contacted Wendy to have her come pick the red haired. The sorcerer's earful was more had been more than enough for him, then he had died once more.

"What?"

"You get the picture.” And there he was, forced into babysitting until someone finally came for her, _as soon as possible_. Teleport was out of question for as long as the sorcerer was in the Triangular Region. And it seemed like her mother was unavailable at the moment.

"I told you already that I'm sorry!". The horse neighed out of protest. Billy caressed his head in sympathy. She managed to piss off any kind of living being in a five kilometers range.

"And I believe I said that I don't give a fuck."

"Billy...". There she went again.

"No" he tried to stop her, only find out that after a whole week made of shouts and threats their impact had run out of effect.

"Look, you don't have to keep me with you. You could still- "

"No."

"But- "

"I'll cut your tongue off, I swear!". He was awfully close to just straight up hypnotize and make her still and silent until they reached the closest inn. They were still far, no crossroads nor signs in sight. Maybe it'd take them an entire day's worth of walking till their destination.

Billy desperately prayed for him to stay calm and not strangle the annoying tick in the meanwhile.

He'd had a few drinks as he kept an eye on the squeaky brat who was quickly making a pretty penny playing gwent against a particularly cully soldier. Tommy was even drunker than him, and it sure was a benefit on both sides. The less wary he was, the more information could be spilled in the smallest amount of butt licking from his colleague. Whenever he came across a considerably tough contract he'd usually seek him out and give it up to him, of course skipping over crucial informations that could potentially kill him. But they always came with lavish rewards, which was probably the single good thing that stupid witcher could boast. Plus, he'd always pay for drinks both before and after. 

This time, however, was different. Tommy had let some bits slip away, inevitably catching Billy's attention.

"So, we talkin' about five contracts in one go?"

"Yeah, that sonuva- " he had stopped himself halfway, staring a Billy in bewilderment. It hadn't been the first time that _the bastard_ had come out in their conversation, but despite his every attempt in finding out more, Tommy had always stopped himself from spilling the beans.

He chuckled bitterly and studied his friend through half-mast lids, weighed down by both fatigue and alcohol: "You'll see."

"See what?"

"You need to talk to whoever you'll find inside the house, let him tell you where they are. Just don't kill him though, I need him alive."

"Will you cut the crap and finally tell me who the fuck 'he' is?"

Tommy stared at him with an eerie look, stopping his lips on the mug: "A personal matter."

He didn't manage to get anything else out of him, but at least he could finally get rid of the red haired sore for the entirety of the next day.

Home.

Tommy must have been drunk on that occasion as well. It was the third time he'd come across the same crossroads but as much as it was comforting to think of it as someone pulling a prank on him, he knew something was off.

 _Magic_.

The place had been protected by a barrier of some sort that made him spin in circles only to constatly end up on the same spot. And what pissed him off the most was the fact that he hadn't been able to find a single clue that could give away the fact that magic had been used. His medallion wasn't hot nor beamed, but cold twinges biting on the back of his neck gave him a bad feeling. A very bad feeling.

He checked the road sign once again. On his left was the path towards the inn he had come from, on his right the route to the next city. He had to follow the latter and cut to the left as soon as he noticed a red sign on a tree, which was nowhere to be found. He had nonetheless cut through the foliage going round and round even without coasting the pathway. 

Where was that barrier? Where could he find the mistake that would have allowed him to get through?

"Sometimes I can't help but wonder how much dumber you can get!" Billy growled and she jolted. The pipsqueak shrank back as they silently stared at each other; the blonde was taking deep breaths while massaging his temples.

"Why are you here?" he roared again as his yellow eyes gleamed in anger.

The red haired clenched her fists: "It's a very stupid trick, are you really not getting it?"

"Go back to the inn, you can't come with me!"

"Back to that smelly drunk? As if! Plus, it looks like you really could use my help around here". She completely ignored any further complaint from the other and calmly walked towards the road sign. She analyzed it for a bit with unusual silence, to the point where Billy could only stare in awe at the over five minutes of hush.

"Are you sure you didn't notice anything unusual around here? Like, um, blurred areas or rocky walls?"

"Nope" he breathed through his teeth, holding in further insults. The girl began stamping her foot as she cautiously looked around them: "If there's no obvious flaw it means he's good."

"Obvious?"

"There's always a flaw, whether you like it or not" she quickly explained. For the briefest moment, Billy could actually feel sorry for the little sore: though her mother was a sorcerer, she was not. And by how she explained and talked about magic on any given occasion, an aching urge to belong to a world that had chosen to keep her out oozed out of the girl.

"You've kept coming back here, right?" Max interrupted his trail of thoughts, and the blonde nodded with a grunt and his constantly crossed arms. "Then it has to be here."

"The flaw?"

"Yeah, but where?" Billy walked closer to her in the middle of the crossroads. He finally understood why she had stopped there to stare so intensely at the wooden sign: it was the only thing they could really have power over.

"Yup." She looked at him with approval as he turned the sign upside down. "Could work."

It did. Billy could actually feel the sligh change of air, like a warm breath on the sensitive side on the back of his neck. However, if they had really managed to get through the enchantment, he couldn't get rid of the pipsqueak anymore: she would have ended up on his same route whatever the course.

"Quiet and don't get in my way." And so they began walking, leaving the horse saddled to the wooden piece behind them.

Hours went by, or so they thought. At least the brat had had the forethought to keep her mouth shut.

Then the medallion had begun burning, vibrate and beam, and Billy had stopped on his tracks to analyze the shaded landscape in the late afternoon hours. It was almost twilight. He mechanically rose a hand over her. Max immediately hid behind his back, holding back her whine. He drew his iron sword. It had to be a sorcerer.

"Not a sound."

"What did you see? I didn't notice anything."

He didn't answer, merely walking towards the fronds in front of them. The birds had peacefully kept chirping up until a few minutes before while the wind slightly moved the surrounding forest; now everything laid still in a disturbing and impenetrable limbo. He wnt along the paving with his head cocked on one side and the sharp senses alert, but whatever the menace was, it took those moments of stall from him to attack.

And he did not see her coming, at least not in time, despite his witcher senses.

He'd been violently thrown away by an inhuman arm, and Max shrieked in horror. The sound reached him sharp but delayed, since he had just hit his head against the trunk of a tree. He started to get up only to be abruptly kicked in his lower abdomen and roll against another tree.

"Billy!"

He finally managed to see her and her nasty hooked nails. It was a woman. 

Horns, goat legs. Enticing like some kind of demon.

"Fucking succubus!" He managed to hit her in the stomach and she fell over the musk on an oak's roots. He finally managed to draw his silver blade, just in time to shield himself from another lunge from the sharp fingers. He screamed in rage and broke away from her, dodging a scratch directed at his jugular by the skin of his teeth. She instead got his face, almost managing to tear one of his eyes out.

The voice coming out of her was guttural, hoarse and definitely not something one would expect from someone looking like her: "How did- "

Billy was so out of it due to the adrenaline overdrive that he didn't pay her mind. He jumped towards the creature before she could get back on her feet and his sword thrusted right across the shoulder. The succubus' chilling screams made Max yell as well.

"Who are you?"

She gripped on his shoulder and pierced through it with her hooked nails. Billy tightened his jaw and thrusted his blade deeper in the creature's flesh. Another abominable screech left her lips. Her sweaty hair were stuck on her forehead and her cheeks striped with sweat and tears.

"Who the fuck are you? How did you do such an enchantment?" The shoulder was bleeding even though she wasn't pressing that much, too lost in her own pain as blood flowed freely over her twitching body.

"I won't repeat myself again". He harshly gripped her face in his hand so she could look right back at him. She looked content despite her own pain. He tightened his grip on her chin.

"Billy, no!"

"Shut up! Don't move from there!"

The succubus spit right on his face, chuckling. Max flinched in horror. Not a very wise choice, now he was positively pissed. The red haired girl couldn't even muster a sound. She wanted to scream at him to stop but she found herself completely paralyzed in terror, already sure the witcher wouldn't have listened to her anyways.

"Very well". He extracted his sword from the woman's shoulder, earning winces of pain and heavy spasms. The sharp point of the weapon hovered over her chest as his feet held her slight body down. He noticed she was holding her breath in as he kept his homicidal look fixated on the creature he was about brutally kill.

Admirable. Really admirable. It was the first time he was facing a succubus unwilling to waver, to tearfully beg for her own life.

Too bad she had decided to ruin the moment by plastering that despicable smug smile on her face, strange and languid and coming out almost like a snicker. Billy suddenly felt very heavy.

His every surrounding had begun whirl around his clouded eyes. He had too quickly jumped into a sitting position, trying to grip on the small table that instead slipped towards him, making him fall on the ground with a loud thud.

"Billy!" 

He was harshly gripping at his own arms. Nausea creeped on him with maddening tingling and he clicked his tongue. He had been enchanted, the coppery taste of magic still lingering on his lips and the skin on his neck itching.

Something violently tugged at him and forced his back on the floor once again, his eyes staring at the ceiling. He was about to puke. He really needed to puke. He couldn't even muster a single word. 

A silhouette had come forward in his very restricted vision. It took him a while before he could really focus on it.

"Well, you had it coming. You almost killed her."

"Who the hell are you?" he slobbered, kneading his words like he was drunk. He managed to lay one hand on his aching head, but it felt so heavy he almost immediately let it fall over his stomach.

A man. It was a man. No, a teenager.

"Are y- "

"So you were looking for me." the other murmured lost in his thoughts, then kneeled over the witcher's face. It was very unwary of him, Billy could have easily grabbed his throat and wreck his neck in two. Maybe he had simply deemed him unable to move.

"The fuck did you gave me?"

The other's look turned towards the sound of footsteps approaching and he stretched his arm as a warn to stop. Max had quickly come closer, only to immediately halt at the gesture. Billy kept focus on the scene with a not indifferent amount of fatigue, but despite the blur he couldn't help but notice that the piece of shit seemed to have some kind of power over the girl.

"I just had you weakened for a bit- "

"MAX!" the scream came out croaking. "Max! What did he do to you?"

She took a few steps towards him and Billy's eyes squinted, trying to focus on her. It looked like she was fine. She was safe and sound. She was alive.

"Nothing. He did nothing, Billy. He's- "

"The blood" he gulped painfully.

The boy was distracted. Max looked at her hands as she immediately remembered that her pink dress was drenched in crimson red. Billy had to make a huge effort to try and gain back some energy. Not even the idiot hovering over him had expected him to react so quickly, and found himself toppled on the ground with the witcher towering over him. Max yelled: "No! Billy! Stop!"

He was fuming, but for the first time since he'd come to his senses he managed to get a good look at the stranger's face. He was suffocating him while the other tried to wriggle himself out without success.

He would have surely managed to kill him if it wasn't for the tedious pipsqueak coming to his adversary's rescue, jabbing the prior day's wound with all her strength. Billy let loose his grasp over the other, as he suddenly felt like his own lungs had been deprived of every ounce of oxygen, grunting and swearing through his gritted teeth. Then the boy hit him in the stomach with a knee and let the blonde fall on the ground once again, crouching in pain.

"Fucking cunt!" He violently coughed with a livid face and boiling anger. He kept reeling without a rest as both of them growled menacingly at each other and Billy tried to roll away from the other until a firm grasp on his naked shoulder made him grunt almost inhumanly.

With a mechanical gesture he gripped at the wrist. His eyes depicted the true amount of fury he was feeling, an aching and clouded delusion. The boy's face was red with the effort as well but he didn't waver as his fingers sank deeper in the freshly opened wound on the witcher's shoulder. It wasn't until then that Billy finally noticed the bandaged.

He had been medicated.

The lost expression painted on his face for the briefest of moments made his eyes go back to the deep brown ones that could almost istantly burn him to ashes.

"Yes, I tended to your wounds."

"Don't you dare read my mind, you fucking asshole!"

"Well, there's really nothing one could read to begin with" the other objected with sarcasm. He heavily fell on the ground in a sitting position, taking in as much air as he could while Billy decided to stay calm for the time being and just put the pieces together. Everything became more clear almost immediately.

"She's not dead?"

"No" was the answer dry and sharp like a wolf's growl of warning and the blonde found himself unable to stop sneer at the combative look. He squinted his eyes in exhaustion but still smiling: "And you saved me even though I almost killed your bodyguard?"

"She's no bodyguard. She's a friend" he fervently replied. Billy followed his every movement as he tried to get himself up, and found himself trying to do the same thing.

Max was still, and he studied her for a few seconds while trying a second attempt at using the small table as a support: "You helped him?" he gasped viciously.

"She's good - with potions, that is" the other answered for her, starting to walk towards the wall of that dusty, crooked house. It was the typical housing of a forest mage, no enlargement incantations on the small alchemic kitchen filled with plants and windows encrusted with layers upon layers of pollen from where he could see the well kept garden of an expert herbalist. And that there was full daylight. 

How much time had passed?

Max came close enough to be mere inches from his chest. They looked at each other with empathy and he was surprised by her genuine response: the girl hugged him regardless of his injuries, quickly facing back at him with an apologetic look as she heard him groan in pain, but mostly in surprise.

"Are you ok?" she asked with watery eyes, and Billy found himself unable to say anything, merely nodding. "I'm so sorry! You were hurt so I had to trust him. And he took care of you. I know that- "

"It's ok" he replied, putting a halt to the avalanche of guilt threatening to violently burst out of the red haired girl; then he politely peeled himself off of her weak embrace. The mage was admiring the scene with a vaguely melancholic look on his face. He handed Max a wet cloth so she could clean her face.

"Who are you?" Billy still was unable to really trust him, as it was in his nature. It was normal for the witcher to be skeptic towards anyone, let alone mages, given the ones he had had the misfortune to run into had always revealed to be rather slimy and focused on their own goals. That guy, however, seemed genuinely nice, kind and selfless, which made the blonde even more wary of him.

"Steve."

"And why is a mage residing in this forsaken place?"

"Oh, I see" he spat sarcastically. "So you think that my kind but a snooty bunch keeping themselves busy by deceiving Vizima's richest people."

"Still haven't found anyone to prove my opinion wrong" the witcher replied as his eyes laid on him once again and feeling his shoulder with one hand. He was fine, could move his arm with no trouble and it didn't burn. "Of _your_ kind" he then added, curious by the other's analytical look.

That guy gave him the chills, studying him with an inflexible expression.

"Who sent you?"

"Now now, if you'll allow me, that's none of your fucking business." Steve didn't appreciate the answer, but at least it got a response from him. He laid against the working table with a mortar and pestle on it and Billy took note of his every movement, even the smallest, as if he was expecting to be attacked again. Which wouldn't have really been that far-fetched of an idea, even though it wouldn't have then made sense for the mage to tend his wounds and keep him alive.

"Why did you heal me?"

Steve kept staring at him, then looked at Max with a gentler expression: "Would you like to help me out with the garden?"

She giggled in excitement and nodded: "What do I have to do?"

"Take some _verbena_ , _sewant_ mushrooms, aconite, _mandragora_ and some parsley" he replied while pointing at a wicker basket next to the green entrance door and the red haired went out in no time, slamming the heavy wood with a gust.

The witcher studied him even more warily as he gracefully settled himself on a stool behind him. He hesitated for a few moments: " _Tawny Owl_?"

"Yes. Superior. You lost an awful lot of blood, so you should rest some time soon."

" _Why are you helping me?_ " The question came out sounding like an irritated deep growl coming out of his throat. And he was ideed getting very irritated. He hated the fact that someone had intervened on his life, even if he was on the verge of dying, and the cherry on top of the cake was the fact that it had been some stranger interfering without him asking and straight up ignoring his own will.

"I'm not ignoring it. I just find you to be too proud and stubborn to ask anyone anything" he murmured with a grin that made the other's blood boil in his veins. 

He moved the small table with a single blow and quickly walked towards the mage. Steve didn't even flinch, holding his position with a fiery look and willing to attack whether he found it necessary. Billy tugged at him harshly with his fists gripped at the tight leather vest. No reaction.

"Do not pry into my head. Won't repeat myself."

"Right. How foolish of me, to be suspicious of a witcher in my house."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"I needed to know why you're here to begin with but it seems you have built a lot of walls and forts inside your mind, especially when it comes to unwanted questions" he whispered as his irises became thinner. Billy felt incredibly uncomfortable under that gaze's scrutiny, letting his grip go and backing away a few steps. His eyes flickered and he spurted out: "Five contracts."

"What kind of contracts?"

The blonde hesitated, trying to hold himself back even though his head felt unbearably heavy: "A b-bruxa... ssssylvan- ".

He staggered, gritting his teeth and holding his temples between his hands. Even the smallest actions, such as thinking, had become a painful task he was finding himself unable to perform; something was terribly wrong. His mind kept wondering back to that trail of informations urging to flow freely out of his lips, and focus on anything else was out of discussion. Why was he telling him all those things? He couldn't- 

The fiery yellow eyes could pierce a hole through his skull but Steve didn't move, merely crossing his arms against his chest as Billy kept retreating a few steps until he hit that damned small table: "Stop it! Now!"

"I won't. It would be better for you tell me what I want to know and then leave."

"I could kill you right now, you shitty mage, even without staining my armour any further with your filthy blood."

His swords were missing. That idiot had taken them, but he was sure he could still distract him with the Signs enough to give him a chance to find something in the room to use as a weapon. He felt a jolt running through his spine and into his head, deep and uncomfortable, that made his insides itch. Steve's voice echoed in his mind: "You can't. I sedated you. For what I care, I could have you faint right now."

"Damn- " he tried to jump at the other only to end up on his feet, gasping as if a mysterious force was crushing him. Beads of sweat adorned his skin as his own lungs were on fire. He felt the mage's cool hand on his pale face, tenderly grabbing him by the chin and making eye contact.

"Stop resisting."

"Go. Fuck. Yourself."

The tremendous screech in his mind came back as he could hear the muffled sounds of Max's voice from the outside. She was coming back inside. How much time had passed? He tried to look back at Steve once again and felt a sharp pain pierce through his chest.

"I won't hurt her, I promise" The mage's voice had now become a tornado inside his head while his ears rang. Had he been in his right mind he wouldn't have even dreamt about looking at the other with a pleading look. But there he was, and he knew he would have hated himself for giving in to this asshole's magic, unable to move, protest, or even talk.

The idea of Max being safe slowly flowed inside him pleasantly, almost as if he was slipping into a warm bath. He was being enchanted once again, Steve had managed to convince him, wring a deep, unexplainable and intimate sense of trust out of the witcher.

Unable to restist and completely at the mage's mercy, a stream of words flowed freely out of Billy's lips even before Max turned the doorknob.

He was laying on his back once again, but this time he was doing fine. He was alert and well rested, more than he'd felt in years. He quickly got up to his feet and noticed how Max jumped out of her seat.

"How are you feeling?"

He brought a hand on his head with no apparent reason. The bandages had gone, and he observed how every injury had nicely healed into streaks of milky scar tissue with the uncomfortable feeling of his stomach being tied in knots. He looked at the girl with an inadvertedly furious gaze and she stood still, hesitant as to what she had to do.

"Are we back at the inn?" was his rethorical question. Billy was already sure it was the same place he'd spent the night before. Max just kept her position next to the tasteless lunch and put the fork she was holding back on the table. 

"I brought you back."

"He hypnotized me, that fucking asshole!" he shouted enraged, violently smashing the first thing he had come across against the dusty bookcase, managing to make some books fall on the ground; Tommy came in with a skeptic look on his face. They stared at each other and his colleague studied him for a few seconds, then offered him an accondescending smile: "Well, at least you're alive."

"Go to hell."

"He almost had me killed last time" he explained, turning his amused look on the red haired girl whose face showed only fear and disgust towards him. Billy analyzed her a bit, noticing her innatural stillness and unusual quietness, only to dismiss the new information immediately after.

"What's his fucking deal?"

"He's protecting some dangerous creatures" the other answered dryly, laying his broad shoulders against the doorframe. His armour was far too big for his relatively slender figure, making him look like a crow inflating its chest before the annoying screech.

Billy gritted his teeth as he remembered how he'd been hypnotized. Flashes of memories went back and forth inside his mind in a chaotic stream: the mage healing him with bandages and ointments, Max crying for whatever reason, "No! No one can know about it, no one!", "We could help- "

"What did he do to you?" asked Tommy, interrupting the other's trail of thoughts and making Billy feel giddy as he was coming back to reality, back to the inn's room with them. 

Max gulped and Tommy noticed: "What did he do, huh? Did he use an enchantment?"

"N-no" murmured the girl. "No, he said- " she added fervent, rising up with a newly found confidence. 

Tommy kept his composure and chuckled, interrupting her: "Ah, he hypnotized you alright."

"He didn't!"

"And how whould you know, hm?" he murmured mellifluous. "You're no witch, so what would you know."

Billy sighed loudly, already done with the situation: "Cut it out, both of you".

The witcher watched him with a weird look on his face but complied soon enough, focusing his attention elsewhere: "Guess you don't care anymore about him?"

"I do care, and next time he won't be able to hypnotize me."

"Billy, no! He- "

"Maybe we should stick together?" suggested the other, interrupting Max. "I'll look for the other contracts while you deal with him. You are the strongest one between us, after all. We can split the reward."

The red haired girl was horrified by those words. She looked at the blonde with pleading eyes.

Billy gritted his teeth and just nodded. It was impossible for him to admit that he needed help, let alone accept it, but the fucking mage was good and he sure did underestimate him the first time. "Tomorrow".

"Very well" replied Tommy with a satisfied smile. "Just a question: how did you figure the enchantment out?"

"Enchantment?"

"The road one. Been looking for the fucking cunt for a while now, to no avail. Then I found out that he actually lived here and the contract details I was given didn't add up."

"You just have to- "

"I disagree!" squealed Max. She turned to face the blonde who was watching her confused by the sudden outburst. "Billy, he's good! He took care of you and isn't protecting anyone! The other evening he said it was a 'personal matter', and I don't trust him!"

Billy carefully considered what she had just said while his colleague cackled in amusement: "My, would you take a look at this sneaky little pip! I swear, you can't get your eyes off her for a minute."

"Ain't she?" Billy confirmed as he frowned, while Tommy suddenly became very quiet and lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah". He kept his gaze on him, giving the other a really bad feeling. "Yeah. Tried to kill me a long time ago. We were friends, he betrayed me. But I can assure you that this isn't the reason why I'm looking for him: I know he's hiding those creatures, and we have do carry on our duty."

"But- "

"Max" Billy warned her with a dirty look, and she finally froze.

"So," Tommy pursued "How do you get there?"

"I'll show you tomorrow" replied Billy. "And now I want to take a fucking nap, so get off my dick."

Not revealing him the wooden sign trick had been an surprisingly smart choice for someone like him. Even if he couldn't care less about the mage. He just wanted to get to the bottom of the situation mostly out of an awakened sense of curiosity. And something made him feel terribly uneasy.

Max kept staring at him with a scowl on her face. He tried to ask her whether she could remember anything at all, but her memory was twisted in confusion and Billy was sure she wasn't lying. She tried to grasp on even the faintest flash, but she had been hypnotized as well; Steve had made her forget everything, just as he had tried with the blonde. But his witcher senses had come to the rescue, taking the lead and activating the mental resilience. His memories had immediately bounced back in mixed glimmers, and it would have taken him a while to be able to piece everything together with the full knowledge of the elapsed time frame.

Tommy was a weird figure, Billy had noticed that quite some time ago and it had struck him like a dart. He'd never really trusted the guy. Not in training, despite them practically growing up together, nor when they finally left the region after a lot of their comrades had given the witcher carreer up for the hitman life. There was a reason why everyone hated the School of the Cat - heck, even he hated his cowardly mates. But Tommy had kept on pursuing his path against all odds, like Billy and only a few others and, as far as the blonde knew, never indulged in mercenarism.

Alas, he was unfair, always brewing a mix of envy and admiration towards Billy and anyone who bested him in any given field deep within himself, to the point of almost killing everyone in training with one of his tricks. Byers, just to make an example, had his face horribly scarred by an exploding construct after being handed the wrong ingredient by Tommy.

No, Billy had been wise not to reveal the secret of the enchantment. And he'd have to be careful the next day, too. He needed him, the good resource he was, but if he'd try and fuck with him it would certainly be the last time.

"Billy!"

Max was crying her eyes out. A couple tears fell on his face and Billy came back to his senses soon enough to cash in the injury's pain all in one go. He winced between his gritted teeth, keeping a hand on his waist and jerking with a single movement the whole bundle of sore and tense muscles. He was bleeding to the point where he could actually die while soaking the bedsheets in crimson. His body was heavy, so heavy, as pain was the only thing urging him to hold on.

Then he saw Susan. It was like a hard slap on his face, and he couldn't help but pant and squeeze his eyes shut for the sudden twinge in his chest; then he felt her hand dabbing on the wound in an effort to stop another spill of copious blood rivulets.

"It's okay honey, just relax". It was a soothing lullaby for his ears. Why the hell was she there? Had she come to finally take her daughter back?

Billy could hear her murmur disconnected fragments of sentences muffled by the incessant ring in his eardrums. Everything had suddenly become blurry. He could hear her magic sizzling, the static energy in the air raising the hair at the nape of his neck, then the coppery feeling on his lips.

"Careful. Slow" she tenderly admonished, looking into his eyes. He basked in the warmth of the mahogany gaze. Some tears rolled down his cheeks: that woman's healing magic always brought him on the verge of an almost unsustainable emotional tension. Had he been in a better shape he'd surely have started screaming at that point, shouting his protests and squirming just to cause physical pain and a subsequent rejection on both sides. Last time he did, the magic had flown away in the air and almost blew out the Mage's Tower like some sort of combustible gas.

And he began dissociating like every other single time. He could see ocean deep blue eyes and long hair of the same colour of the sun falling all over his own as he was offered a warm and gentle smile. He could hear the sweet voice from his memories, lullabies he didn't think he could remember.

But on the outside he was wailing as his still body tensed and focused its energy on that single area that urgently needed to be healed.

It didn't take long, but to the witcher it seemed like entire hours had passed. It took him quite some time to really get a grip on himself and go back on his feet. Mother and daughter both looked at him worried; Susan tried to soothe him by caressing his face but Billy quickly grabbed her wrist, trying to be as delicate as he could. He fumbled a bit, swallowing as his eyes gleamed with fury under the messy hair stuck on the sweaty forehead.

"How long has it been since he left?"

Tommy had hypnotized him in his sleep, extracting informations from his subconscious mind and then sedated him enough to let him bleed to death without noticing. In the dead silence.

That, for Billy, had been the final straw.

Not only had he tried to kill him, oh no, he had also tried to do it in the only way he knew it'd have destroyed him. Being powerless had always been a trigger for anxiety for him, while passing away without realizing his worse nightmare. He didn't know Tommy had actually understood him so deeply during their battles, but surely that time after they had to fight their first gryphon together where he got so blatantly drunk to end up confessing his need for a glorious passing had to have been a dead giveaway from his side.

He had done it on purpose.

And Billy would kill him without an ounce of pity.

When he finally managed to reach some familiar trees the place had already been trashed and burned to ashes by someone casting an flame sign. Better than a fucking blood test: the idiot had always been able to cast Igni long enough to produce a decent blaze only to awkwardly die by itself mere seconds after.

Now that the succubus could no longer guard the woods it surely had been a piece of cake for him. He mentally cursed himself for not seeing it coming, not being able to see through that pitiful charade artfully put on. Who knows how long Tommy had been plotting to use him for his own personal vendetta. The fucker.

The blonde quickened his pace, ignoring the roaring burn of the injury that struggled to keep up with the too fast healing process, ignoring the skin pulling at the edges of the newly formed scar, even the fatigue and the overall blur veiling his sight. He was focused to the point that the boiling rage of a few minutes before had slipped away from his body like water off a duck's back.

Then he saw it.

The house had been burned to the ground. Window glasses shattered everywhere, the door had been unhinged by a kick since the fire had only touched the exterior layer of the wood without causing real damage. The luscious garden had been completely torn apart and Billy ran where the smoke and the sound of glass exploding made him grit his teeth while his focused glowing eyes looked for the slightest sign of movement over the walls. The mage was on the ground, alive. Crawling. Tommy stood behind him, watching how his nails scratched on the floor in a desperate effort to get away.

The blonde finally burst inside and the sword already drawn. Only a single moment before everything became too hasty. He was trying to keep his heartbeat in check, which suddenly became an easy task after laying his eyes on the bastard. A surprising sense of disgusted pity took over his fury.

Tommy shielded himself from the first blow and the other immediately went for the stomach with a swift kick that knocked his breath out of his lungs. He was without armour, barely covered by a white linen shirt that left both his chest and the abdomen exposed. The situation had of course forced him to rush out as soon as he could without protection which, added to the phantom pain lingering, made him still unreachable to the bilge rat.

Then he tried to get him with a sign. The small table flew to the other side of the room together with some curtains. Billy didn't falter; then he went for the blow and successfully sank the sword deep to the hilt in his shoulder.

For some strange reason his nose itched. He hadn't paid mind to it before, even though chills had run through his spine as soon as he had entered the room.

Tommy screamed and tried to cast _Igni_. The blonde cut his hand off before he could even remember the final step. Blood flowed freely after a couple moments but the other was unbothered, spitting on the ground while his mind felt even more clouded than before.

"The fuck d'you- "

But the other witcher was far too gone, and they stared at each other with hatred. Billy understood that he wouldn't have gotten any further information from him. And he had had enough. He didn't have any more will in himself to spare the other's life.

He took a step back. Tommy tried to charge against him. Too late. Billy had already casted an Igni, though it wasn't what got him first. It was an oxygen bubble stopping him mid-air to trap him inside. He exploded like a bomb inside a magical barrier, making Steve groan from a distance as he tried not to let the fuel take them away as well.

He saw a dark arm move between the flames, then the muffled screams inside the bubble.

When the oxygen finished and the fire finally began abating the barrier vanished like mist, leaving behind nothing but ashes.

Billy was petrified, unable to concentrate on anything. Alas, his first and most natural reaction was to look out for the stupid mage on the ground, hand still frozen mid-air after the enchantment and reduced to a sweaty trembling and panting mess.

That was the moment he finally noticed him. As if he had never seen him before, with those delicate traits, the soft flesh and the deep eyes.

He gulped, trying to get back on track. Everything had become painfully slow and tense: "I-I told you not to get inside my mind".

Steve's hand slid down to his stomach. He'd crawled his way to the wall. He looked at him with a forcibly sarcastic look before chuckling softly: "Would you have rather had him die a slow death?"

The blonde kept quiet, silently admiring other's quick ethical reactivity despite being the victim. Though it was still hard for him to fully understand what had been going on between those two, despite Tommy's actions. But now he could begin to feel a new sense of benign inclination towards the mage that still confused him.

Steve surely had read that thought as well given the faint smile that curled his lips while he let his head fall back to expose the bare neck. Then he pointed at something else over his own feet, behind the furniture dismembered by _Aard_.

The witcher slowly turned around as a soft warmth surrounded him. Then he froze from head to toe as he noticed an empty glass bottle. One of those used to craft a bomb. He had never seen the weird content that was still coming out in a red smoke with some pinkish streaks. He walked a bit closer before Steve stopped him: "Cover your nose."

"What?"

"It's..." he swallowed thickly, massaged his temples then swallowed again. "It's an aphrodisiac. The more you inhale the stuff, the weaker your inhibitions become".

Everything fell into pieces, forming a frightening picture. Billy tightened his jaw and did as told, grasping at the empty bottle and throwing it past the smashed window, but the nauseatingly sweet scent was still lingering in the air.

"Fuck!" he spat on the ground, kicking a wall in the process. He looked over the dark tiles of the floor where the witcher's ashes laid, almost as if looking for answers he couldn't get. He heard Steve's muffled coughing and just stared at him, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. 

"Always been a son of a bitch."

"What the- why a fucking aphrodisiac?". The skeptical look from the mage, the arched brow and the strained serious gaze woke a sense of disgust in him, letting a nervous laugh escape his lips. It was then that he noticed the other had been injured. Blood was spilled all over the black leather of his tight attire and formed a pool on the ground. He tried to get close, only to close his own eyes: "I'm not myself, you should- "

"Are you ok?"

His ears rang as he though of how the mage was asking him if he was alright. Before even noticing his own actions, freed of any costraint by the mysterious red smoke, he was ripping the other's straps laced over the chest and stripping him in order to get a better look at the injury.

It was just a small cut, and though it was bleeding it wasn't that serious. He laid his hand over that side of the chest, trying to move away the dark leather of the vest.

Steve grunted, or at least that's what it sounded like before turning into a completely different sound. He tried stopping him by holding the wrist. Billy kept going on with his delicate touch and stared at the other's pleading eyes, and his throat suddenly became dry. He was trying his best to stop, putting more effort than the mage was, but the more time passed the more the aphrodisiac found its way through his veins, making his pooling need more painful and urging.

The witcher's own actions were contolled by something beyond him, something more raw and needy. His fingers traced the perfect skin of Steve's abdomen. He looked at him like he'd have looked at a woman, coveting him like he'd covet a woman. Everything; the withheld breath, the small movements of the chest, the spasms, everything he did was setting a fire inside Billy, drawing him even closer. 

The nipples were already hard, and when he barely brushed over one a small whimper left Steve's lips while he let his head fall forward. He was still grasping the other's wrist but was unable to stop him.

The blonde grabbed him by the chin and made him make eye contact with him. The half-mast eyelids gave him a pained look. He caressed the soft and wet lips with a thumb; the mage had bitten them in a failed attempt to hold his voice back. 

As the finger carefully went for the inner corner Steve opened his lips in a languid invitation that surely enough had seduced the other, whose focus went from that single detail to the ensemble that was his face painted with lust. A whore in a painting. That's what he was.

Billy swallowed but didn't give in.

He licked his lips while two of his fingers laid on the agape mouth. Steve didn't put up even the slightest fight as his lips parted even more and he took the other's fingers and moved his tongue. The blonde sank them deeper. He was so obscene, so pretty. He could picture his own erection wrapped around the velvety throat but he wouldn't have allowed the other's face to look so calm and relaxed. He would make it raw and relentless. As soon as he'd feel the wet, scorching heat of the other's mouth wrapped around him he'd began pounding in like a dog in heat. Make him choke as those perfect lips would touch his base, then go even deeper until the mage would gag and make all those lewd and marvelous gurgling sounds from the bottom of his throat.

He removed his fingers, effectively shirking from the other's diabolical tongue play; his erection was now painfully noticeable against the tight trousers' crotch, and Steve's was not far behind.

The witcher became famelic, raving. His skin could twitch at the briefest of touches and before he could even process his own actions he was stripping the other out of the few remaining clothes. Layer after layer, gasp and moan. He wanted him there below him, naked and powerless.

"Don't even think about it" he growled, parting Steve's lips when he noticed that the other had again been trying to hold his voice back. The brunette glared at him in defiance and made him grin with amused interest. Billy's eyes gleamed and he pinched the mage's nipples with a pleasurable strength that made the other's entire body twitch.

"Gn- witcher!"

"Shut up." A leg was still covered by the dark leather but the blonde was far too lost in Steve's loud panting. Every touch made him jolt in pleasure, unable to hold anything back anymore. At the umpteenth attempt the witcher went for his mouth, clashing their teeth together and without much grace parting his lips even wider like he'd do with a woman's knees. He freed his own member from the painful costraint and felt the sound of his trousers' fabric friction against the brunette's body. He drank his every gasp and moan with a mischievous snicker and kept going with his painfully slow and thorough torture, teasing him and then gripping at the dark hair without much care and yanking the other's head back to make him lay below him and expose his jugular. Now he was just being petty. When he finally let the mage's lips go he went for the sensitive skin below the chin, licking and suckilng, biting hard enough to leave physical traces of his loving ministrations. All while laughing at Steve's vocal protests promptly contradicted by his own body's response; his hips were rolling upwards, involuntarily looking for some kind of friction that Billy was sadistically forbidding.

"Fucking animal" he moaned as a single tear rolled down his cheek. He licked the brunette's carotid without lowering his gaze, in a single fluid movement that allowed the mage to get a better look at the finely sculpted hunter's physique, and basked in the look he was being offered and the thoughts behind it.

"Would you rather have me stop?" he cooed as his hot breath tickled Steve's battered lips. The mage hadn't noticed the look on the witcher's face, since the glowing yellow eyes seemed unable to move from his own.

The grip on his nape made his head go further back to expose even more of his neck and earning pained whines because of the unnatural position of submission he was being forced into. He gritted his teeth and harpooned one of Billy's biceps which he found, much to his own demise, hard and firm like steel. "What if I said yes?"

"Wouldn't believe you in the slightest- " he grinned. The brunette felt the urge to switch position, anything that could allow to overpower him, see him defeated. He saw him draw near and closed his eyes for a moment, regretting it almost immediately; "but ok."

He let go and Steve gulped, barely able to hold himself in a sitting position. He watched as the blonde smirked and put distance between their chests enough to make him feel cold at the sudden loss. It was like getting slapped. He gritted his teeth out of desperation, trying to hold back his pleads.

"What's wrong, princess?" asked Billy with fake concern, holding the mage's chin between his fingers and placing his knee against the other's crotch. With a single faint stroke Steve was reduced to a panting, whimpering mess. He held him steady and admired the wanton he himself had set inside the mage: "Is there something you want?"

"Please- "

"Please what? Say it. Or I won't touch you. I'll get out of that door and sex the first whore I find raw in the ass". He'd gone back to being aggressive, drawing his face close to the brunette's and making the latter back away until his head touched the wall. The witcher's hair had fallen forward, framing his devilish good looks. 

"Say it."

Steve kept still. He could feel his own erection under the blonde's like some kind of warning. Billy's lips got close to one of his ears, now chest against chest. The bomb had reached its peak, completely out of control. The tongue was millimeters from the auricle and the mage found it almost impossible to remove himself from that intense feeling that made chills run through his spine, and also because he was being kept in position by a firm hand. 

"Want me to split you open, huh? Want me to slip inside you and make you scream like the whore you are, feel as I fill you up completely while I pound deep and hard, using you as I please while you beg in tears for me not to stop. Is that what you want, pretty boy?"

At that point the mage had forgotten even his own name, too engulfed by the honeyed sound of that devil's voice as he described the most obscene scenarios he could come up with and unable to snap out of the spell he was under. He was almost shivering with anticipation at the idea. "Mh- "

"What?"

"Yeah." Steve muttered, unable to look at him in the eyes. But the blonde was having none of it, looking for his eyes. He wanted him to admit it his utter defeat.

"Then beg for it."

The brunette's complexion was, at that point, bright red. When he turned around in disbelief and trying to understand whether the other was being serious or not, he froze on the spot. Billy rolled his hips and earning a wince from the mage; the erection had become an irrepresible pain to restrain. He could have come right there, at the single thought of being some kind of toy the blonde could play with. It was unsustainable, he couldn't hold back any longer.

"Please."

"Please what?" the arrogant witcher cooed with a smirk.

The mage gritted his teeth and swallowed his own pride: "Please... please fuck me! Please, I can't hold- "

Billy detached himself before the other could finish his plea. Steve felt the sudden distance as some kind of cold vice, making him almost follow the body with his own. He blocked himself when he noticed that the other had kept enough distance to allow him to move.

"Turn around. On all fours."

The only reason why he obeyed was the overwhelming heat and the raw desire that were slowly eating him from the inside; on a normal base he'd have put more of a fight against those orders imparted with such an imperative and smug tone. Later he'd surely want to disappear. Die of shame, even. But in that exact moment he just moved, completely naked and his butt diligently up in the air.

Billy inhaled deeply at the sight, trying not to go crazy on the spot and take him without any preparation. When he grabbed the butthocks he felt the other jolt and grinned, brushing his abdoment against Steve's back. One of his fingers went for the sensitive ring of flesh while the other hand settled under the neck, making him bend even more. He went in slowly, finding him more flexible than what he'd expected.

"Oh?" he chuckled against his ear, delighted by the sound of a held back moan in answer. "Looks like it's not your first rodeo, huh?"

Steve kept quiet until the blonde didn't add a second finger inside without much care for the delicacy he'd shown with the first one. He quickly began sliding in and out rhythmically, parting the two fingers without ever going further than necessary.

The mage held back another moan and the other scoffed: "Somethin' to share, princess?"

He mustered the courage to turn his head enough to make eye contact. Billy blocked him in that position with the hand wrapped around the neck all the while thrusting deeper, finding that small spot he'd been looking for. The witcher couldn't help being amused by seeing him get lost in the feeling for the smallest fraction of moment, yelping and twitching as soon as he brushed that perfect small bundle of nerves.

"Stop- I want to- "

Billy let him go and gripped at his own pulsating excitement, brushing it against the perfectly round ass. The sound coming out of the brunette's throat was heavenly, lost in the feeling and completely stripped of any inhibition while rolling needily his hips against the blonde.

He positioned himself so his tip was ready to enter and waited for the ring of flesh to settle itself for the intrusion.  
"Slow." With a hand he clutched at the hip in order to avoid any sudden movement and parted a bit more the butthocks with the other, admiring the breathtaking scenery. "Breathe."

He heard him pant but could feel his inner walls slowly relax and loose enough to allow him to continue. He was big alright, surely making it more painful for the other, but as soon as Steve involuntarily moved against the witcher he felt the blonde's shaft slip inside, and he swallowed a moan down as he was being completely filled. He felt swollen and stuffed by the impressive girth, and they were just getting started. He didn't even have time to adjust to the feeling before Billy's grip tightened on his hips.

He got closer to his ear once again and whispered: "The little slut is starving, isn't she?"

The thrust came sudden and precise, feeling the strength of those splendid hands on his hips as he supported himself with both forearms and forehead on the ground. The second came in deeper, in the third their pelvises touched and fit together perfectly. The overwhelming feeling of it all made Steve's eyes roll back in his skull and Billy took advantage of the moment to seek for his own pleasure. He began pounding and moving inside. The brunette felt everything, every single muscle inside him tense and twitch, throbbing and uncontrollable. 

He didn't have the strength to care about anything else, completely engrossed by the intense pleasure every single thrust produced against that deep spot of his. A continuous and paralyzing electric shock ran through his spine. His whole body tingled.  
Billy gripped tightly at his hair, dragging the head towars his face. Every sound coming out of that friction was obscene, but even more obscene were the cries of pleasure leaving the brunette's lips every time the witcher thrusted back in at a relentless pace.

"Please!- " he begged between pants. The blonde removed his grip from the hip and made him sit on his member. He brushed a hand over his chest then settled on a shoulder, dragging Steve closer to him. His face was completely twisted by the impossible pleasure, desperately close to his climax, half-mast eyes. He gripped at his shaft and rolled his hips upwards, once again deep inside him: "Some whorish sounds you're making there, Stevie". He could feel his own testicles slap against the other's butthocks, his eyelids close shut and his member twitch. It was all it took. The milky white fluid reversed on the floor and the mage managed to get even louder, despite seeming deeply lost into riding the climax, especially as Billy began moving in a quicker and more chaotic rythm, evidently close to his own orgasm, still torturing that sensitive bundle of nerves inside him. He came while squeezing his neck and turning his head around to kiss him, impaling him one last time, the deepest yet, grunting and painting his inside with his own semen.

Not that Steve had any kind of strength left inside him to go and say anything about it. They had been completely worn out by the force of the intercourse to even muster a single word. 

They had washed themselves in a water course near enough to the now completely destroyed house without looking at each other or even making eye contact. Billy was restless and even more jumpy than usual. Everything that had happened up to that moment kept spinning in circles inside his head. It had been the first time he'd bedded a man, not that he knew anything about that, but he felt even more detached from his previous self for that same reason. He had actually enjoyed it. 

He looked at the mage as he washed himself, completely ignoring him like nothing had happened. He was grateful for it, but also somehow pissed. He didn't get why he had liked it, how he had reached such a powerful orgasm with such an anger for sex like he'd never felt before, not even with girls. He liked breasts, the soft curves of women, their smell. But that drug had made him feel attracted by a body he'd have otherwise never craved for, and now there was no turning back nor hope for him not to think about it. The brunette's scent kept tormenting him. 

He followed him in silence through a pathway over the stream, redressed as best as possible and hopefully back to their senses. They had completely blacked out on the floor till it was dark. The mage had woken up first and laid the other on the cot, then healed his own injury. 

"Why was he so obsessed with you?" the other asked after some time, breaking the awkward silence between them. Steve looked at him confused and didn't produce a single sound, making the other know he didn't want to answer.

"He always looked at me in that sense" he finally answered, leaving the blonde speechless. The mage studied at the horrified look his words produced on the other face; he was indeed surprised and disgusted by the idea of rape enough to barely hold his anger back. "He found out I was in love with someone else, and almost killed her. Then I ran away, and he followed me."

"Is it true that you're protecting some monsters?" Billy recklessly asked.

Steve inhaled sharply from his nose and nodded, turning to face him. He was as tense as a violin string, keeping his arms crossed against his chest with latent nervousness that was automatically passed onto the witcher as well. "But they never killed anyone, when I found them they were practically unable to survive on their own and took care of them. I know what you witchers think of them, but they're not bad."

His eyes were analyzing him, but apparently no further words were needed since his face immediately softened. The mage was surprised at what he saw inside the other's mind and frowned: "You're an unusual witcher, Billy Hargrove."

"I just like to take some time to think before acting" he replied annoyed, hitting his shoulder as he surpassed him. Steve kept leading him until dawn painted its first colours on the sky. Finally, they reached a rocky wall and the mage waved his hand. An entrance revealed itself before them, showing a cave finely adorned with drapes, plants, heaters and comfortable beds, but also a kitchen and vases filled with food. The succubus was sitting on a sofa, the fresh bandage wrapped on her shoulder was spotless as she had apparently stopped bleeding. But as soon as she noticed the witcher she almost jumped in attack, not allowing any time for questions. 

"Robin, no!" Steve got between them and the woman stopped halfway. Billy could see, much to his surprise, all the five contracts he'd been tasked with: a teenager bruxa with long dark hair, a sylvan who had immediately gotten in front of her, two human boys, one with the skin of ebony and the other of milk, both apparently normal (or maybe the two werewolves he'd been looking for), and finally a kid who had to be the higher vampire, though he didn't look a day over sixteen years old.

"He's good. He was deceived" informed Steve, stepping forward. The succubus studied him still uncertain and angry. She shrugged her shoulders and kept staring at the bright yellow eyes: "Is it true?"

"Yes" Billy admitted in annoyance. He hadn't moved an inch. 

The mage looked at the both of them and sighed, then talked him: "So what're you gonna do now?"

"I better get going. I still have to find Max, the little pest, then on with my next job." He studied him: "You're- "

"Yes" he answered before the other could really ask his question. If he was sure he wouldn't get himself killed. They kept in silence for quite some time, until someone, the bruxa, took some bold steps forward to take a better look at him, earning some protests from her friends. They stared at each other as the girl remained inside the cave. The witcher nodded imperiously, only to have her smile in response.

"I know you!"

"I don't think so" he replied far too severely. The girl hesitated a bit, then added even more sure than before: "Yes, I do! Well, when you were a little boy at least."

The world became a whirlwind spinning around him for a few seconds before he too quickly managed to recompose himself: "What?"

"Your mother" the bruxa answered, nodding. "The witch, I remember her."

Steve saw everything going through the blonde's mind in those painfully long minutes of silence, strangely happy at the certainty that he'd stick around a little longer.


End file.
